Vania



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s. W; & W; V. DERMITT. ELEQTRIG .VALVE CONTROLLER- Patented 00;. 25, 1887.

UNITED STATES PATENT Finer...

SIMPSON W. DERMITT AND WESLEY V. DERMITT, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYL VANIA.

ELECTRIC VALVE-CONTROLLER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 372,208, dated October 25, 1887.

Application filed December 11, 1886. Serial No. 221.258.

T aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it k nown that we, Snurson W. DERMITT and WESLEY V. DERMITT, of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsyl- Vania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Means for Detecting the Stoppage or \Vaste of Gas; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Our invention relates to means for detecting the stoppage and waste of gas and for operating the valves, so cutting off or reducing the supply in order to prevent accident. d

It is well known that both with illuminat- 1 ing gas and fuel-gas-such as the natural gas,

which is now employed largely for heating and n'iauufacturing purposesthe pressure of the gas may vary, and in some cases the pressure may cease entirely, and that many accidents have occurred either from the decrease or stoppage of the gas, so that any fire or illuminating burner supplied thereby will go out, and when the pressure of the gas either comes on again or increases it leaks into the apartment, causing explosions; or that this pressure in many cases increases either on account ofthe decrease in the amount of gas drawn from the main orfroui accident in the regulating-valves employed, so that, where an ordinary fire is burning at a safe heat,on account of the increased pressure of the gas the heat may be increased to such an extent as to endanger the building in which the gas is burning by overheating the flucor igniting the wood-work 5 near the burner, grate, or stove, several serious accidents arising from these causes having occured with the use of natural gas.

The object of our invention is'to provide means for detecting either the increased press- 0 are or the decrease or stoppage of the flow of gas, and not only giving alarm, but at the same time, if desired, by the operation of suit able valves, in the case of stoppage of the flow, cutting offthe supply entirely until it is turned on again by the occupant of the house, or, in case of increased pressure, so reducing the supply of gas to the house as to prevent accident,from the same. To accomplish this we employ the wellknown principle of expansion and contraction of a metal rod under dif- (No model.)

ferent temperatures, and cause this rod by expansion or contraction to operate one or more electric circuits, whereby, in case of the stoppage of the gas, the rod will contract and close the circuit, giving the alarm, and at the same time, if desired, operate a valve to cut off entirely the supply of gas to the grate or building, and in case of an increased pressure of the gas the increase in heat will cause a further expansion of the rod, thus closing the circuit, giving the alarm, and, ifdesired, at the same time operating a valve to reduce or cut oif the supply of gas to the grate or building and prevent damage from the increased heat of the fire.

To enable others skilled in the art to employ our invention, we will describe the same more fully, referring to the accompanying drawings, in which I Figure 1 is a side view illustrating our invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view showing the means of applying the heat to the rod and operating the circuits, and Fig. 3 is a detail view illustrating the apparatus.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in each.

\Ve prefer to arrange the apparatus so as to operate the valves in the main pipe leading into the cellar of the building, so as by one apparatus to protect the entire building from danger, though our improved apparatus may, if desired ,-be applied to any particular grate or burner.

In the accompanying drawings, (t represents the main pipe leading into the building, and having a suitable stop-cock or gate-valve, b, for cutting off the supply, the supply-pipe a leading to the different grates or burners throughout the building. At any suitable point in this pipe, either in'the cellar or in the upper part of the building, I .carry Off the branch pipe d, this pipe having a suitable burner, e, which has, preferably, the chimney e',of any suitable form,to protect it from windcurrents, so that it will burn steadily; and 5 above this burner I arrange the flame-rod f, this rod being formed of brass, iron, or any other suitable material which will expand and contract according to the heat of the flame, or

in case the flame is cut off entirely. The rod 'roo fis secured firmly at one end, as atf, and at the other end is secured the armature g, as at f", this armature being pivoted, as at g, to a suitable post, 9 and having at one end the thumb screw h, which is arranged to come in contact with the cut-off rod h, and at another point being arranged to come in contact with the heavy-pressure rod 1', a suitable thumbscrew, i, being arranged so as to adjust the contact, and the thumbscrew i being either on the heavy-pressure rod i or on the armature g, the heat from the burner c actingto expand the fiame-rodf, and in case of too heavy pressure causing the armature g to comein contact with the heavy-pressure rod 1', and in case the supply of the gas is cut off entirely or the flameis reduced to any great extent the rod f contracting and making contact between the thumb screw h and the cut-off rod h. This apparatus is arranged in connection with certain electric currents,as herei natter described, so that in case of contact of the armature 9 either with the cut-oif rod h or heavy-pressn re rod i an alarm will be sounded through the electric hell it or 7;, and in case of contact between the armature and cut-off rod 71, through a. suitable magnet, m, and its armature m, the handle a of the cutoff valve n in the supply-pipe 0 will be dropped, so cutting off all supply to the pipe 0, and in case of contact between the armature g and heavy-pressure rod 1', through a suitable magnet, p, and its armature p, the handlep" of the redueingvalve 1) will be dropped, and so through said valve reduce or cut oil the pressure within the supply-pipe and prevent any danger of tire on account of the increased pressure in the pipe. The electric currents for accomplishing this result are arranged in the following manner: The battery 1 is arranged at any suitable point in the building, and is connected by the wire 2 with the armature-post 7*, the wire 3 extending from the cut-off post It to the electric bell in, the wire 4 leading thence to the magnet in,

' and the wire 5 leading from the magnet to the battery 1'. The wire 6 leads from the highpressure post i to the electric bell 7c, the wire 7 leading thence to the magnet p, and the wire 8 extending thence to the battery r. In case of contact between the armature g and the cutolt rod h, the current will pass from the battery r by the circuit 2, g, h, 3, 7r, 4, m, and 5, thus ringing the electric bell it, giving the alarm,and through the magnet in attracting the armature m thereof and dropping the handle a of the cut-off valve 12, and so cause the closing otthat valve. The alarm will then continue to ring until the apparatus is readjusted, and either by the adjustment of the thumb-screw h or by the expansion ot the flame rod f the apparatus is brought to its normal position. In case, however, the pressure of the gas increases, the flame of the burner 0 will correspondingly increase, and by the increased heat will expand the flame-rod until it moves the armature g and makes contact with the heavypressure rod 1', when, through the circuit 9', 2, g, 'i, 6, 7c, 7, p, and 8, it will sound the bellalarm 7c, and at the same time will, through the magnet p, attract the armature 1;, thus dropping the handle 1) of the reducing-valve p", and so reducing the pressure of the gas in the supply-pipe or cutting off the same, and prevent accident from the increased pressure of the gas. The reducing-valve p can be regulated to cut off any desired amount of pressure, and for this purpose we generally employ the adj Listing-plate 8, located below the reducing-valve 1), this plate having several pinholes, 8, therein, and a pin being placed in any of these holes, and so acting, by supporting the handle 1;" of the valve, to permit it to fall only the desired distance in cutting off whatever pressure is requisite. The handles a and 1f of the cut-off and reducing valves are weighted, so as to properly operate the valves.

The construction of the apparatus may be varied, as is well known to those skilled in the art, the essential features being that the circuit or circuits desired can be operated by the expansion or contraction of the tlamerod, so as to give necessary alarm or operate the valve or valves, or both. as may be desired.

By the term flame-rod employed in this specification and the claims it is intended to include any metallic or other substance of any suitable form subjected to the heat from the gas-flame and adapted by its expansion or contraction to operate an electric circuit. The

electric circuit employed may operate either by opening or closing to detect the stoppage or the waste of the gas.

\Vhat we claim as our invention, and desire to-seeure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of a gas supply pipe having a val ve therein provided with a weighted operating-arm, a catch for holding said arm up, and an electro-magnct for withdrawing said catch, with a burner connected to said supply-pipe, and a thermostat subjected to the heat from said burner, and in an electric circuit with said electromagnet, substantially as and for the purpose set t'orth.

2. The combination of a gas-supply pipe having a valve therein provided with a weighted operatingarm, a catch for holding said arm up, and an electro-magnet for withdrawing said catch, with a burner connected to said supplypi pe, a thermostat subjected to the heat from said burner, and in an electric circuit with said electro-magnet,and an electric alarmbell in said circuit, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof we, the said SIMPSON W. DERMITT and WEsLEY V. Dnnmr'r, have hereunto set our hands.

SIMPSON WV. DERMITT. XVESLEY V. DERMITT.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH A. MnYnRs, J. N. Coonn.

IOC 

